MARATHON walker Nancy Powell-Brace wants as many people as possible to support the final leg of her trek from Cleopatra’s Needle in London to Wellington Monument.

She wants townsfolk to hike with her from The Iron Duke in the centre of Wellington to the monument on Sunday, September 23.

“I have several friends who will be heading off with me at 11am and I hope others join in to support the walk,” she

said.

That would echo the laying of the first stone in 1817 when townspeople walked together to the site of Wellington Monument.

Cleopatra’s Needle on Victoria Embankment and Wellington Monument are the only three-sided obelisks in the UK, and the monument is the tallest in the world at 175ft.

Nancy will be starting her walk of about 180 miles with a dignitary from Wellington on Friday (September 14) at 8.30am. She is planning overnight stops at Windsor, Reading, Newbury, Pewsey, Trowbridge, Shepton Mallet, Somerton and Taunton.

Nancy has been contacting local newspapers and radio stations along the way to promote the walk. She will also be posting live feeds on her Walking to Wellington Facebook page.

She said: “The aim of the walk is to raise awareness as much as anything. It is making people aware of the monument and the fact it is the tallest three-sided obelisk in the world. It’s not just a national monument – it’s an international monument.”

Nancy has so far raised about £3,000 from a Just Giving page and collection box in Odette’s tearoom in High Street, which she co-owns.

She plans to suggest to the National Trust, which owns Wellington

Monument, that the money she raises buys items to enhance the area

around it.

“I would perhaps like wooden picnic tables with a plaque ‘From the people of Wellington’ – something to encourage people to spend time there rather than walk the dog and go home,” she said.“That’s the sort of thing the National Trust can’t allocate in its budget because it is looking at the huge picture.”